Will Allstate, Kellogg and other companies start pulling out after Twitter suggests boycott?

Megyn Kelly‘s horrible rant that made light of blackface on Tuesday had folks on Twitter looking at her—and her advertisers—sideways once again. Now, her advertisers are facing a boycott and may have to brace themselves for losing big money.

The question, undoubtedly, is will any of NBC and Kelly’s financial backers pull out after her latest tone-deaf, racially offensive move. It’s a fair question, especially given the former Fox News anchor’s history of sunken place comments, NBC’s controversial decision to bring her on in a move forcing Tamron Hall‘s exit and Kelly’s low ratings.

Perhaps the well-paid Kelly, with the backlash growing against her, sensed that her advertisers were upset and publicly issued a weak apology to save herself. Perhaps she also was reminded of the consequences of her past missteps.

Last June, JPMorgan Chase pulled its ads from NBC following Kelly’s interview with Infowars founder Alex Jones, Forbes reported. Kelly, who was hosting her Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly program for the network after leaving Fox News, sparked major controversy with the decision to sit with Jones, a far-right radio host and writer. The JPMorgan’s chief marketing officer, Kristin Lemkau, tweeted that she was “repulsed” Kelly would give airtime to Jones.

6. Ridicule

7. Blame in on Trump

I think for what is going on with this administration and all of the racist people out there and many incidents that people have encounter due to racism Megyn Kelly just open another can of worms with her comment. pic.twitter.com/ED9asvHPEF

8. This is par for the course for Megyn Kelly

1. Going back to her days at Fox News Megyn Kelly has had a history of being racially/culturally incompetent and unaware 2. Keep in mind NBC dumped the 9am hr of The Today show hosted by Tamron Hall and Al Roker in favor Megyn Kelly and this kind of foolishness and ignorance. https://t.co/cURaIxZyPh

10. The apologetic Black person chimes in

I love Megyn Kelly!!! As a black man it’s embarrassing how sensitive black ppl are. If a white person wants to be a black celebrity on Halloween, how can they do so without changing skin tone??? Just stop with the fake outrage and lighten up (pun intended) pic.twitter.com/wq3hF0LLSo

12. Megyn Kelly: White people are "normal people"

Megyn Kelly can't understand what's so offensive about blackface then says: "I can't keep up with the number of people we're offending just by being, like, normal people."@megynkelly: 1. You've never been black 2. This isn't "normal," it's white privilege and it's embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/tHPjulPZ1P

13. Black folks' collective side-eye

14. A history lesson

This is why blackface is racistThis is why blackface is racist This is why blackface is racist This is why blackface is racistThis is why blackface is racistCc: Megyn Kelly 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/s7olAgJnaG

UPDATED: 4:43 p.m. EDT -- Megyn Kelly has miraculously realized the error in her ways of excusing Blackface. And it only took her about five hours.
The NBC talk show hostess wondered aloud, live on the air, why Blackface was wrong, especially during the Halloween season. “When I was a kid, that was OK, so long as you were dressing up as a character,” she doubled down at the time.
But now, she's very reportedly contrite and apologetic for coming off as a tone-deaf, implicitly biased racist. At least those are the emotions that her sparsely worded mea culpa of a memo to only the NBC staff was likely meant to convey.
https://twitter.com/TomKludt/status/1054819577836781568
"I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry," Kelly said in part her very brief statement. "The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep."
Kelly, of course, has a rich history of being at the center of racist moments, which probably means this won't be her final apology for offending Black folks.
Original story:
Megyn Kelly proudly bared her ignorance of social norms by unabashedly wondering what exactly was so wrong with Blackface. Especially on Halloween, she argued on her NBC talk show Tuesday morning.
What is racist?” she asked somewhat rhetorically when she and the other white people on her panel were inexplicably charged with deciding what is and isn't offensive to Black people. “When I was a kid, that was OK, so long as you were dressing up as a character.”
https://twitter.com/ActuallyEmerson/status/1054780291057733632
We won't even get into how NBC canceled a morning show hosted by Tamron Hall and Al Roker so that the network could reward Kelly with a $69 million contract that has resulted in low ratings. Chances are, had Tamron and Al been at the helm moderating the same discussion, things wouldn't have gone left so quickly, or at all. Regret has grown over the decision to let Tamron Hall go; it probably grew a bit more on Tuesday, too. But we digress...
To be clear, blackface has its roots firmly planted in American racism, including and especially minstrel shows back in the 19th century that featured white actors who painted their faces black to act like slaves and newly freed Black people. It was these minstrel shows that largely contributed to the many negative, racial stereotypes that have been associated with Black people for well over a century.
Of course, no one on the panel tried to correct her, leaving her virtually unchecked for being so wildly inaccurate on such a well-documented topic. So social media users took it upon themselves to educate Megyn Kelly about the errors of her apparently oblivious ways.
Below is but a brief sampling of the chorus of sarcastic responses that resonated across the Twittersphere.